Chapters 13 and 14
Chapter 13 Summary Chapter 13 begins with Aunt Alexandra arriving at the house and announcing her staying, much to Scouts disappointment. She has a very distant relationship with Jem and Scout, for she strongly disapproves of their upbringing and the fact that they do not seem to succumb to her ideas of social norms i.e. boys being gentlemen and young girls being ladies- interested in the clothes and boys. Aunt Alexandra settles into Maycomb very quickly and soon establishes a firm reputation as a hostess, and was an 'incurable gossip'. She also does not fail to pass her judgement on the 'streaks' in which every family in Maycomb seems to uphold of some sort. Her preoccupation with heredity is further shown with her old fashioned views of what makes 'fine folks', and that the longer a family was squatting on one patch of land the finer it was. This is contradicted by Jem who, taking Aunt Alexandra's theory, says that it must mean that the Ewells are fine folks- which is certainly not the case. In the middle of the chapter, Lee goes into the history behind Maycomb county and the inn-keeper Sinkfield, which explains that for the sake on Sinkfield's business, Maycomb grew where it was, which fails to be near the only public transport there was- river boat. This meant that the town remained the same size for hundreds of years, and the same families where marrying the same families. This Chapter also overviews the first month of Aunt Alexandra's stay- she barely talked to Jem and Scout and the living room would overrun with Maycomb ladies. At the end of the chapter, Atticus talks to the children about the Finches family name, and what it is to be a Finch, and such things that lead Scout to tears because of the fear that Aunt Alexandra has taken the father she knew away. However, Scout is relieved to be told by Atticus to forget all that he just told them and she knows that Aunt Alexandra's influence has not got to him. Key Quotations '''"It was clear that Aunty thought me dull in the extreme, because I once heard her tell Atticus that I was''' '''sluggish."''' -This quotation shows the disapproval in which Aunt Alexandra holds against Scout because she does not fall under the correct ways in which a young girl of her age should think and act. '''"Everyone in Maycomb, it seemed, had a Streak: a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak,''' '''a Mean''' '''Streak, a Funny Streak."''' - The fact the Lee capitalises "Streak" highlights the status and importance of Maycomb's social values. '''"Aunt Alexandra fitted in to the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me."''' - This highlights the distant relationship between the children and their Aunt, as well as highlighting how different Atticus, Jem and Scout are from the rest of Maycomb. Context The key issues surrounding this chapter are predominately the old fashioned Southern values within Maycomb and Aunt Alexandra, and the roles of women at the time. It is clear that Aunt Alexandra withstands the old traditions of the pride in being a part of family that stretches back generations and the traditional southern stereotype of gossip and the assumptions made about other people's family and heritage- whether this is influenced by their class of race. The fact that Aunt Alexandra pushes for Scout to be more of a 'lady' highlights her understanding of the roles of women in the 1930s. She herself is a good role-model for the expectations of those roles: volunteering, being a hostess, gossiped and "she would arrange, advise, caution and warn". Chapter 14 Summary Chapter 14 starts with Scout asking Atticus to explain what rape is, which brings up the subject of Jem and Scouts trip to Calpurnia's church. While Atticus enjoys listening about their trip to church, Aunt Alexandra does not. She asserts the authority over Scout that disallows her to go to Calpurnia's house, and this causes a spark between her and Scout. Naturally, Atticus makes Scout apologies to her Aunt and gets told that she must listen to what her Aunt says, and angered by this Scout leaves the room. Aunt Alexandra then continues to talk to Atticus about the bad influence that Calpurnia has on the children, but Atticus firmly states that Calpurnia will not leave their house until she wants to, for she is a part of the famliy. Jem then takes Scout aside and tells her to go easy of Atticus and Aunt Alexandra because Atticus has a lot on his mind- much to Scouts denial. This is when we start to see that Jem is growing up and assuming a role of higher status than Scout, physically and intellectually. This angers Scout and she initiates a fist-fight which "became a brawl", until Atticus broke it up and ordered them to bed. It is then that Scout discovers Dill under her bed, originally thinking him a snake, and he tells them of his abusive step-father and that he heroically escapes, travelled with a circus and then on to Maycomb county to find them. Jem, out of moral obligation, calls Atticus- who offers Dill food, a bath and the invitation to stay the night. Once Dill's Aunt has been informed and comes over from next door, Dill goes to bed in Jem's room. In the middle of the night, Dill crawl into Scouts bed and he tells her that the real reason that he ran away was because his mother and step-father paid no attention to him; they gave him everything he wanted, told him they loved him and then told him to stop bothering him. Dill and Scout then go on to discussing where they are going to get their baby from, and Scout starts to fall asleep to Dill talking to himself. However, at the very end of the chapter, Scout asks Dill why Boo Radley has never run off, and Dill answers her by suggesting that he does not have anywhere to run off to. Key Quotations '''"It's different with grown folks, we-"''' This is a significant quotation as we see that as Jem is growing up, he asserts a new found dominance over Scout- physically and intellectually. This is highlight through the personal pronoun of "we" as Jem takes a patronising tone with Scout, as he ranks him self with "grown folk". '''"Then''' '''he rose and broke the remaining code of our childhood." '''The fact the Jem essentially betrays Dill in order to rise to this mature adult persona that Jem has created of himself, is a stark contrast to the beginning of the novel, when it is Scout that is seen as an outsider to Dill and Jem's games. Now it seems that Jem is too old for Dill and Scout. '''"Why do you think Boo Radley's never run off?" [...] "Maybe he doesn't have anywhere to run off to..."''' This is the first mention of Boo Radley in a long time, because it seems that the fantasy of Boo comes alive when Dill is with Jem and Scout. Lee end the chapter with this quotation to highlight that the underlining theme off Boo Radley is still very present in the novel, and the ellipsis at the evoked a mood of unfinished business, therefore as readers we know that the subject of Boo Radley will be brought up again later in the novel. Context In the beginning of the chapter as Atticus and Aunt Alexandra talk about the trip to Calpurnia's church, underlining issues of racism is highlighted through Aunt Alexandra's views which depicts Calpurnia very much as just a worker or slave unlike Atticus who sees her as a part of the family. The fact that Jem treats Scout as inferior may highlight him believing in that the roles of a girl are lesser than his, although it is probably Just that Jem sees himself above Scout as he is older- therefore more superior.